St John WA permits triple time for paramedics for third time in a week as State grapples with ramping crisis

St John WA has authorised triple time for the third time in the space of a week as WA grapples with record ramping. The ambulance service put the call out on Saturday, advising paramedics in the metro area that triple time would be available to plug holes over two shifts. Just two days earlier, St John WA bosses put the call out for triple time on Thursday, following another request the Saturday before. It’s the fifth time this winter the triple time incentive has been activated for paramedic crews as the emergency service struggles to meet any of its key performance indicators. The last time St John WA metro crews met the target for attending 90 per cent of its priority one emergency cases within 15 minutes was June 12. One paramedic, who did not want to be named, described response timesover the last several weeks as “abysmal”. “The main contributing factor is ramping . . . and mismanagement of whatever meagre resources are available is at times shocking,” they said. The bid to boost ambo numbers on the road comes as WA battles woeful levels of ambulance ramping. Last month paramedics spent more than 7000 hours waiting to hand over patients, the highest since records began. That record is set to be broken again, with the daily average for August so far exceeding that of July. Shadow health minister Libby Mettam said desperate calls for triple time “just reinforces how broken our hospital system is under the Cook Labor Government”. “Once again we are seeing health workers asked to do more with less,” Ms Mettam said. “Too many paramedics are spending too many hours waiting at hospitals to hand patients over because our hospitals simply do not have enough beds. “Our health system is buckling, with paramedics, nurses, doctors and health workers being left to deal with the crisis at the coalface.“ Australian Medical Association WA president Kyle Hoath has been vocal this week about the “terrifying” ramping figures and “obscene” emergency department wait times. “We’re not seeing any improvement here in these ED wait times, which is the biggest thing that impacts ramping,” Dr Hoath said. Earlier in the week, Health Minister Meredith Hammat said frontline healthcare workers were “doing a remarkable job” amid “our busiest winter yet”. “But we know more needs to be done to manage the demand of elderly patients in need of aged care,” Ms Hammat said. St John WA was contacted for comment.